Friday, March 27, 2009

One of the things we discovered while in London last week was the joy of an afternoon cream tea.A good cup of tea with milk & sugar plus current scones served with clotted cream & strawberry preserves. It was definitely the pick-me-up we needed after a long day of sightseeing.When we got back home I decided to surprise Matt & bake him some fresh scones. The recipe I decided to use was from one of my favorite cookbooks, Small-Batch Baking. This recipe called for cream, egg & a lot of butter, a ton of butter, when I check them partway through cooking they were sitting in pools of melted butter.They were tasty but a little doughy & struck as being more like a biscuit than a scone. So, that set me off on the search to find a scone recipe that would make them like we remembered.My next stop was Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I figured Martha would have the perfect cream scone recipe, because she's Martha after all. This recipe called for butter, though less than the other recipe, and cream but no egg (except a little as an egg wash).These babies really rose (they had both baking powder & baking soda in them) though very unevenly, & were really flaky. They were even more like a biscuit then the last ones.Next step was to check the web. I found this recipe which used only cream as the fat. It's almost exactly the same as the recipe used by Sara Moulton on the Food Network.This dough was so wet & sticky it was almost impossible to work with. The finished scones were more like sweetened bread than anything else. So, the baking continues....I've gotten a few other recipe suggestions from some fellow foodies on Twitter, including Dorie Greenspan's recipe. I'm thinking scone 1 was the closest but the recipe just contains just too much butter perhaps I just need to modify it a bit. Do you have a favorite cream scone recipe?

I would love to know how the scones in london tasted? flaky and perfect? I bet you anything it's how they chilled the butter, then cut it up. I have a fairly good recipe for scones from CI, but they did not rise that high, but still the insides were light and buttery. I have to post them.

Kat, I posed a scone recipe on my website a few months ago. Here is the link!http://stacy-brian.blogspot.com/2008/12/recipe-of-week-quick-and-easy-cream.htmlIt's a Cooks Illustrated recipe and I think their stuff is great!

Definitely no egg. My best scone efforts have been following a recipe with a bit of buttermilk as the liquid. Rubbing the butter into the flour properly and handling it lightly are the secrets once you've found a good recipe really.

Hi, I stumbled upon your blog and thought you might like to check out the "Joy of Baking" website for their scone recipes, and the other thought was to look up the Savoy hotel in London. They are renowned for their cream teas and might have a recipe posted.Lynda

I don't know if you've heard of the chef James Martin, but his great recipe is here: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/513117He does some wonderful tradition British food, like scones, and is all over the telly here in the UK.

I use Sara Moulton's recipe and I love it because it's so simple and versatile. I always make a 1/2 recipe, perfect for the 3 of us. The trick I use for handling the soft dough is to pat it out into a round right on the baking sheet, brush with the cream & sprinkle on the sugar, then I cut the round into 6 pieces, like a pie, and wiggle the knife to separate them into separate pieces. They usually come out perfect and very scone-y in my opinion. If they seem too sticky, I add a little flour while the dough is still in the bowl.

I'll be interested in the results of your quest for the perfect scone!

Hello! I just enjoyed reading about your scone-making adventures and thanks for the picture from London. I made blueberry scones for a Birthday Brunch for my daughter Elizabeth held just yesterday. I used a recipe I found on the internet. Several years ago I made scones using a recipe that said it was created by Martha Stewart. They were wonderful! Having lost that recipe I googled :blueberry scones by Martha Stewart and found the recipe. They call for cream and unsalted butter and not too much sugar. They were the talk of the party...and there was great food there! My aunts each asked to take an extra home and people raved about them. My daughter sent me a text today how one she took to work was "soooo delish, moist and blueberry-ish". Try them. They are easy to find and make. Make sure you put all the flour in and flour your board and hands before you turn them out to knead slightly.I experimented with the sugar on top, which you sprinkle after brushing with cream. Reg. sugar isn't noticeable and doesn't color the scones much. I mixed Demerara sugar and reg. sugar, which gave a little crunch and abit more color in later batches. I also added a little vanilla to later batches, but you don't have to. Next time I am going to look for the crystaline white sugar & try that.Take care! Happy Baking & happy eating to both of you and everyone else. My children's grandparents lived in England and there Nana was Scottish, but I am Italian-American. Everyone enjoys scones!

Greetings from the UK! This is a good basic recipe: http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/baking/how-to-make-scones.html

If the dough is too flat they won't rise, and if it's rolled unevenly they'll be wonky - or 'homemade' as I prefer to call it. :)We generally use self-raising flour here, which my American baking book adventures have shown me seems less common in the US. One point on cream tea etiquette: coming from Devon, I reckon you spread the clotted cream on first, then add a dab of jam on top. Cornishmen would disagree, and reverse that order! More details here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A649235

I have made "Grandma Johnson's Scones" for several showers and a tea party, and everyone just raves about them. Not sure how traditional a scone they are, but they are definitely tasty...everyone online rates them 5/5.